Sunday, December 29, 2013

Earlier this month we did a card exchange at a local stamping group I belong to.

This was the card I made for the exchange.

The inside sentiment says:

Hope your day just sparkles.

The background was created by sponging between two Post-It! Notes with Stampin' Up! Taken With Teal ink. The Crafter's Workshop stencil was sponged over the teal with Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze ink. The single flower was inked with a Stampin' Up Taken With Teal Marker and VersaMark ink, then heat embossed with Holographic embossing powder. The group of flowers was stamped by inking with Baja Breeze and Taken With Teal markers. They were then accented with Soft Sky and Tempting Turquoise markers after stamping. Star Dust Stickles were added for a bit more sparkle. The piece is matted on Taken With Teal A2 cardstock.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

This little scene looks just like our backyard after the last storm passed through a couple of days ago. Mounds and mounds and drifts of white Christmas snow, but the birds are merrily feeding in the bird feeders on this crisp, cold Christmas morning.

Friday, November 8, 2013

My anxiously awaited copy of the Winter 2013-2014 issue of Rubber Stamp Madness magazine just arrived today. Another piece of my stamp art is published in this issue!

You're a Superstar

PhotoPOSTOS postcard front

Back of PhotoPOSTOS Superstar Postcard

These pieces were done for an article titled "Do-It-Yourself Postcards" in the Spotlight column on pages 26 and 27 about a great product called PhotoPOSTOS. They are fun and easy to use for turning your stamp art into a postcard, with a self-adhesive backing that you just attach to your 4" x 6" art or photos. Their website where you can learn more about them and purchase them is: http://www.photopostos.com/.

Stamps used:

Kraftin" Kimme Stamps - Superstar, sentiment

Stampers Best - London phone booth

Beeswax - cobblestones

Hero Arts - cityscape

Market Street Stamps - spray of stars

Art Impressions - large star

Crafty Secrets - small star

Buildings seen through phone booth are hand drawn

The front of the postcard is colored with Copic markers after stamping with VersaFine Onyx Black ink. The stars in the sky were added with a white gel pen. I used Judikins Eclipse tape for masking while creating the scene.

The back is stamped using Ranger Tim Holtz Distress, Memento and Stampin' Up dye based inks.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

When I saw this Impression Obsession sentiment, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.
It's a Valentine card for my hubby. I love the saying! The sentiment would make a great card for a little one too, I think.

Yes, I actually got a card made ahead of time instead of at the last possible minute. Now, all I have to do is remember where I put it till next February. Considering the condition of my craft room lately, that could prove to be a very difficult task.

I sort of picked up when I left for Florida and still can't find the stamp I was planning to use for my Christmas cards this year. I put it in a very good place (too good a place) for safe keeping till I returned home. The problem is where could that be! Perhaps I'll find it in time for next year's cards.

I decided to make a cityscape card. I love cityscape stamps and have several of them. This Penny Black stamp is my latest acquisition. It is stamped with Stampin' Up Going Gray ink. The moon is from the Crafty Secrets set "Fairies" I love their vintage style stamps. The trees are from Stampin' Up!'s Serene Silhouettes set. I drew the heart on the building from remembering seeing the heart lit up on the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle".

The buildings and background sky are colored with Copic Markers. The stars are made with a white gel pen, as are the hand drawn frames. The sentiment is stamped with VersaMark ink, then heat embossed with white embossing powder. The red cardstock is Stampin' Up!'s Cherry Cobbler even though it looks more like Real Red in the picture. Xmas Red Stickles were used on the corners and on the heart.

The opening is cut out with the largest Labels Twenty-One die on the black cardstock, which is popped up over the images to make a 5" x 7" card. The sentiment is also popped up.

This week is going by too quickly. I have too many things to get caught up on after being gone for so long. Have a great rest of the week.
Sue

The card looks complicated, but it's really pretty basic. Just stamp the scene in Versafine Onyx black ink (no masking at all) and color with Copic markers. I colored the images first then the background sky. It's matted on Stampin' Up Midnight Muse cardstock and then popped up with dimensionals on the white 5" x 7" card base.

The sentiment is stamped on a separate piece of white cardstock, matted on Midnight Muse and then popped up with dimensionals.

The finished card is 5" x 7". The moon was made using a punched 1 3/4" circle mask while sponging the background with Stampin' Up! Going Gray and Memento Gray Flannel. The mask was then removed and the moon and parts of the background especially around the moon were sponged with orange and yellow Ranger Distress and Memento inks. The bats were stamped in gray ink as well as the gravestone. One of the hills was sponged in gray also using a sticky note for a mask. The rest was stamped and sponged with VersaFine Onyx Black Ink.

The way the background is sponged makes it look a bit like there is an eerie fog or mist in the night air.

I used all Stampin' Up! stamps except for the sentiment for this card:

C is for Cat

Cottage Window

Aviary

Sentiment: Tiddly Inks Hang in There acrylic stamp set

There are two embossing folders used - the top is Tim Holtz's brick wall, the bottom is Flourishes and Dots by Sizzix.

The folders are sponged lightly with Ranger Distress inks. The images and sentiment are stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and clear heat embossed. The rest of the coloring was done with Copic markers. The window was cut out and popped up with the cat and bird stamped on a separate paper and placed inside the window.

I've been absent from the stamping world and my crafting room for a little over a month now. I drove by myself (hubby had to work) 1,200 miles each way to visit my sister and her family in Florida, who I haven't seen in 3 years. I stopped to see my son on the way down. My sister and I took a side trip to visit my niece and nephew at UF in Gainesville and then went on down to Universal in Orlando for three days. It was my first visit to Universal and we had an unbelievably fantastic time. The weather was perfect. Harry Potter was beyond awesome. We had dinner at the Hard Rock Café and also at Margaritaville. We also saw Cirque du Soleil. It is absolutely worth the price of admission. I am definitely planning on going back to Orlando again.

Here is a picture of me with Hogwarts Castle in the background.

Cirque du Soleil "tent"

Now I'm home and back to stamping again. I arrived home in time for a four day stamping and scrapbooking weekend here in town. I made several cards and finished another one which I will be posting over the next few days. It's good to be home again, even if it is cold and we've already had some snow flurries.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

A sympathy card using Penny Black's Eloquence and To You clear stamp sets along with their Breezy fern cling stamp and Stampin' Up!'s En Francais stamp.

The background strip was masked off using Post It sticky notes and then sponged with a variety of green and blue Ranger Distress Inks and Memento Inks. It was then stamped with Stampin' Up's! En Francais script stamp in blue ink.

After removing the masks, Penny Black's Breezy fern was stamped in Memento's Northern Pine ink.The sentiment was stamped in a blue ink.

The butterfly from Penny Black's To You acrylic stamp set was stamped twice on a separate piece of white cardstock in the same blue ink as the sentiment. It was colored with Copic markers. I then cut out all of one butterfly and just the top wing and body of the second one, cutting off the antennae on both. I stamped the butterfly one more time in blue ink directly on the card where I wanted the antennae to go. The two cut out butterflies were glued down to the main part of the card on top of the one stamped on the card with the top one shaped to be three dimensional.

This has been a great summer for star gazing. Living in an area surrounded by lots of wilderness and water and few city lights makes the area where I live wonderful for stargazing. In fact, just across the Mackinac Bridge at the tip of Michigan's northern peninsula there is The Headlands International Dark Sky Park. There is a spectacular video of some night skies in northern Michigan on their website.

The man and dog sitting on the rocks seemed to make the perfect pair to be stargazing on a cool summer evening in northern Michigan. The scene was laid out and stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink using a Stamp-a-ma-Jig stamp positioner and Eclipse Masking tape by Judikins. After the ink dried the images and background were colored with Copic markers.

Friday, August 30, 2013

The door is a Memory Box Poppy Stamps die and the bricks are created using a Tim Holtz Alterations embossing folder from Sizzix.

The wreath is made using a Martha Stewart punch for the evergreen foliage. The candy canes and the holly punch are from Studio G dollar punches. The evergreens are dabbed here and there lightly on a Versamark Ink pad and then gold heat embossed. The candy canes' white stripes are added with a white gel pen and the holly berries are made using red Stickles. The wreath is glued together on a ring shaped base made by using a 1" and a 3/4" punch to form the ring.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Copic markers were used to color this adorable little girl named Wryn (Tiddly Inks digital stamp "Wryn Blooms") and her beautiful bouquet of flowers. Actually I colored her some time ago and she was sitting in my stack of "to be completed" projects. The background is colored in Copics as well. The "Happy Birthday!" sentiment is from the Penny Black clear acrylic stamp set "tweet tweet". It's matted on Stampin' Up! Pacific Point cardstock and a pale gold shimmer cardstock.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

A birthday card for a special friend. Birthdays are always a great excuse to celebrate!

Paint the Town Any Color You Want To!!

What a fun way to celebrate another year older! This card was just plain fun to color. The cartoon like cityscape is an old Hero Arts stamp I found in my stash of semi-forgotten stamps. It fits the whimsical cartoon style theme perfectly along with Penny Black's artistic kitty and sentiment. Actually this kitty painter looks a lot like me after I finish a painting project - covered in blotches of paint from head to toe.

The card was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, then colored with Stampin' Up! markers. To mask the kitty, I used Judikins Eclipse Tape. For fun I added a few extra footprints by coloring just the footprints part of the stamp with markers and stamping them several times across the bottom of the card.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Surprise!! I'm back!! I really haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. I've just been sidetracked this summer with lots of different projects. I have been making cards, but haven't been seated in one place long enough to post them.

I do have exciting news though!! I just had three cards published in the current Fall Issue #181 of Rubber Stamp Madness magazine. This card is on page 61 in their "Out of This World" Space theme article.

Planet Patrol

The Mostly Animals space frog stamp used here is one of my favorite stamps. When I found out the submission theme for RSM this fall issue was Space, I knew I was going to use this little guy for sure in my piece. I have him "leap frogging" (pun intended) across the rugged terrain on some unexplored planet in the far reaches of space. Kilroy is there to greet him for a bit of subtle humor added to the piece. The "sky" is sponged with Memento and Stampin' Up! die inks. The stars were added with a white gel pen. The rest of the scene is colored with Copic markers.

Stamps used:

Rock landscape - After Midnight

Craters at base (partial stamp) - Beeswax

Kilroy, Planet Patrol, parked rocket ship - Viva Las Vegastamps!

Frog in space suit (partial) - Mostly Animals

Moon - Beeswax

﻿

Two more of my cards were published in the Card Shoppe Happy Halloween article on pages 18 - 20.

Haunted House

The humorous sentiment was the inspiration for this three-dimensional piece.

Stamps used:

Scarecrow - The Stampin' Place

Tree - Art Impressions

Witch's feet and hat - Stampin' Up!

House - Tim Holtz die (details hand drawn)

Sentiment - Rubbernecker

Witch's face - Stamps Happen (Janlynn)

Owl - Inkadinkado

Web & lion - unknown

Tin Man - hand drawn

Grass - Martha Stewart punch

Trick or Treat

This sweet little Tick-or-Treat witch looks just right in front of the large star and wreath of circles. The vintage style lettering for the sentiment works perfectly with the other images. ﻿

Stamps used:

Witch, Trick or Treat - Inkadinkado

Large star with wreath of circles, small star - Hot Off the Press (Paper Wishes)

By the way, the cover of this fall's issue of RSM by Carol Sutter (Sutter Stamps) is "out of this world" gorgeous. You can check it out by clicking on the link to RSM posted on the sidebar of my blog.

Friday, July 5, 2013

The triangles with butterflies are from the Penny Black set Social Butterfly.
They go perfectly with the lace from JustRite's Art Deco Lace Edges set. The
larger butterfly in the center is by Inkadinkado from the mini set Take Wing.
The sentiment is also a JustRite stamp from the set Botanical
Butterflies.

All images and the background are colored with Copic markers
after stamping with VersaFine Onyx Black Ink. The center butterfly is stamped a
second time, colored, cut out and popped up over top of the original one. This
is also true of the triangles on the two sides. The two smaller butterflies are
also stamped again, colored, cut out and popped up on top of the original
butterflies

Stardust Stickles is added for a finishing touch. This entire
main image is matted on an A2 card base.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

This vintage bouquet card uses Memory Box's Frangia Bouquet, Twirling Vine
Frame, along with their Debutante Frame for the backing, Marianne Designs Tiny
Flowers #4 die was also used in the bouquet. The vintage looking sentiment is
from Crafty Secret's Sweet Kids clear stamp set.

The die cutouts are
colored with Copics and the backgrounds are sponged with SU Certainly Celery and
Blush Blossom inks. The sentiment is stamped in Old Olive with a touch of Pear
Pzzazz.

The corners on the card base were rounded to go with the curves
of the frame. The main image was popped up on the card base to add a bit more
dimension. A bit of white gel pen was added to the flowers for a finishing
touch.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Memory Box dies were used to create this masculine scenic wintery card.

The snowy ground was sponged using Post-It notes as a mask with Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze ink. The sky is also sponged, but a couple of punched out scalloped circles were used as a mask. They were taped together so that they were just barely overlapping on one side, then sponged across just the tops of them. Stampin' Up! Soft Sky ink was used.

The dies were all colored with Copic markers. The logs and other details on the cabin were hand drawn. The whole main image is popped up onto the front of an A2 size card base with a 1/4" mat.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

A get well card using Penny Black's acrylic stamp set Sweet As Honey, along with
Stampin' Up!'s Honeycomb embossing folder and a Hearts a Flutter Framelits die
for the sentimment on the side.

The main bee image is colored with Copics and cut out. A second bee was stamped,
colored, cut out and popped up on top of the main bee. The honeycomb was sponged
with Memento Dandelion,and Tim Holtz More Mustard and Scattered Straw Distress Inks. The violet mat layer is sponged with
Memento Grape Jelly ink. The two smaller bees were colored with Copics, cut out and glued
down. The bees' flight pattern is hand drawn.

Another flowery hello card using Hero Arts "Flowers Say Hello" old sentiment stamp, but this time the flowers are from the Fiskars clear stamp set "Petals From Scratch". The dragon fly is from the old Inkadinkado set "Beauty Stems From Here."

Except for the big daisy, I stamped the flowers along the bottom, the sentiment and the dragonfly with Memento Tuxedo Black ink directly onto the A2 card front, then I colored them with Copics. The large daisy is stamped on a separate piece of Copic X-Press It white cardstock, colored with Copics and cut out. The bottom of the card is sponged with Stampin' Up! Gumball Green, Old Olive and Always Artichoke inks. The rest of the edges are just barely touched with a Coastal Cabana ink pad to give a hint of blue along the edges.

The left side needed something, so I added a few vertical score lines, then colored the area with yellow Copics. It still needed something, so I used Stampin' Up's! Spritzer Tool that they just retired and spritzed the front of the card with some of their yellow markers.

Next I attached the large daisy flower, after curving the petals with my hands to give them some shape. The daisy center is glued directly to the card front, but the petals are popped up with SU dimensionals to hold the curve to the petals. Last I added a bit of Star Dust Stickles to the flowers and the dragonfly's wings.

Thanks for stopping by.
Those of you in the states have a fantastic and fun Fourth of July celebration.
Have a great week everyone.
Sue

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Serenade, a new Stampendous
sentiment stamp fits perfectly with Penny Black's Sweet Melody set. Love the way
the birds are drawn with the swirls for feathers. The little music notes are
from Crafty Secrets.

A card in blues and greens, with a touch of gold. Images and background are colored with Copics after
stamping with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Parts of the cage are colored with
a gold gel pen and all of the images have touches of a clear
glitter gel pen added for accent. After coloring it still needed something, so I spritzed it with
a couple of Stampin' Up! markers using a Stampin' Up! spritzer tool. The edges are sponged with Stampin' Up! Bermuda Bay and Glorious Green ink. Then Color Box Gold ink was also added around the dges of the main image, although it's hard to see in the picture. The mat is a green scrap cardstock and the new SU Coastal Cabana cardstock. Love their new In colors this year.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

"Flowers Say Hello from the Heart" is an old Hero Arts stamp, but one of my favorite sentiment stamps.

I decided to stick to greens, cream/brown and a bit of yellow for this one layer semi-clean and simple
flower card. No extra frills on it.

The side lattice is from Penny
Black's clear "Puzzle Parts" stamp set. The flowers and butterfly are from
Inkadinkado - an old set titled "Beauty Stems From Here". The sentiment is an old
Hero Arts stamp. All stamps are colored with Copic markers after stamping with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

Hope your day is filled with flowers and hellos from the heart.
Thanks for stopping by.
Sue

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

I saw a couple of sandhill cranes earlier this spring by the side of the road that
inspired this card.

Gray Wolf Graphics makes some fantastic nature stamps including this beautiful sandhill
crane. The sentiment is from one of Crafty Secrets clear stamp sets and the wild
grass stamp in the foreground is from Gina K's By the Sea 2 clear
stamps set.

The crane is stamped with Memento's Gray Flannel ink and colored with Copics. The foreground grass is stamped with Stampin' Up Gumball Green and touched up with Copics. After masking the crane with Eclipse Tape, I used a Nestabilities Petite Ovals die cut negative to mask and sponge the background with Stampin' Up inks. The sentiment is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

After a cold wet start to summer, it is now hot and muggy. Great growing weather for the vegetable garden, though. Have a super day.
Sue

Monday, June 24, 2013

Wetlands is a new stamp set from Stampin' Up! that I knew I had to have as soon as I saw it in their new 2013 - 2014 catalog.

Sandpipers By the Bridge﻿

I combined the sandpipers stamp in that set with Memory Box's Sturdy Bridge die, My Favorite Things Die-namics Catch a Wave die and the sea gulls from Gina K's By the Sea 2 stamp set to create this clean and simple A2 size card.

After cutting out the bridge, I colored it wih Copic markers in the cream and green colors of the Mackinac Bridge here at the Straits of Mackinac. The waves were also colored with Copics and then the tips of the waves were painted with Copic Opaque White. The background was sponged with Stampin'Up! Baja Breeze ink, then the bridge and waves were glued down.

The front is a negative die cut out using the second largest Spellbinders Nestabilities Petite Ovals die. The sandpipers and gulls were stamped on this with Tsukineko's Memento Gray Flannel ink. Then the sandpipers were colored with Copics. This was glued down directly over the bridge and waves. I decided not to pop it up with dimensionals this time.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

The main theme for the latest issue of Rubber Stamp Madness (Summer 2013) is Bugs and Blooms. "Garden Symphony" my stamp art piece I submitted was chosen for the cover!!

Ever since I started stamping, my all time favorite stamping magazine has been Rubber Stamp Madness. I have kept every issue I have ever bought and often refer back to articles in the magazine
.
When I began stamping, I always thought it would be awesome to be able to have my stamp art on the cover. As my stamp art evolved over the 10 or so years I have been stamping, several of my friends encouraged me to submit some of my work. I did and it's a wonderful dream come true to be on RSM's cover.

GARDEN SYMPHONY

The issue includes a two page article "Cover Artist - With a Song in Her Heart" wonderfully written by Sarah Hoban on pages 77 and 78. It gives the details of how I created this piece, the names of the 35 stamps I used and some information about the artist - me. It also shares another piece of my stamp art:

CRABS AT JOE'S

The Summer 2013 issue also shares another piece of my stamp art in the "Looking Ahead" article about submitting artwork for their upcoming issues on page 80. This piece is for the theme "Black Cats" in the upcoming Fall 2013 issue.

Friday, April 26, 2013

I know it's a bit late to be posting a Valentine. This one was started before Valentine's Day, but it got set aside and forgotten til last week when I was going through some unfinished projects to work on during a semi-annual four day stamping weekend conveniently hosted here in town.

I started it at our monthly stamping group meeting. Another stamper and I were playing around with the idea of sponging with a negative mask (Stampin' Up's Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit) using the limited color choices we had with us at the time.. This combination of colors I came up with is a bit unusual for a Valentine, but I like it.

The old Basic Grey Design paper I've used for many projects, along with the Island Indigo and Early Espresso Stampin' Up card stock work perfectly for a mat with the Pool Party andSoft Suede Stampin' Up inks on the card. Stampin' Up matching markers were used to highlight and shadow the stamping.

The edges of the main panel, grass and branches are sponged with Pool Party, Soft Suede, Island Indigo and Early Espresso inks.

Stamps used:

Stampin' Up - Filled With Love, Valentine definedInkadinkado - Branches With Berries - one of the Stamping Gear sets

Stamped the hollyhocks in pink, colored with Copics and then with Stampin' Up markers for the details.

Masked the hollyhocks with Eclipse Tape and stamped the people in the grass with Memento black using a Stamp-a-Ma-Jig. Colored the people with Copics, then masked them.

Stamped the flowery fields using a Stamp-a-Ma-Jig by coloring the stamp with Stampin' Up pink and green markers. Repeated the Flowery Fields stamp by only coloring and stamping the larger flowers for the areas closest to the foreground.

Colored the areas around the flowers and people with Copics after removing the masks.

Sponged the sky using Stampin' Up blue inks listed above and the scallop circle mask.

Cut into three sections and sponged around all edges with Island Indigo before matting.

Thanks for stopping by.
Hopefully this card will inspire some springtime weather this week here in northern Michigan.
Sue

Sunday, March 31, 2013

The new Penny Black Butterfly Symphony acrylic stamp set was used to create this birthday card for a friend.

This butterfly was stamped with VersaMark, heat embossed with white embossing powder, "fussy" cut out and the body and antennae were glued in place. The wings were popped up by using some small glue dots rolled up under the wings close to the body. Before cutting out the butterfly, the color was applied by lightly misting the butterfly with water then sparingly using reinker and an aqua painter brush.

I did the same thing with the corner butterfly wing, but used clear embossing powder instead of white and a little less reinker.

Stamps used: Penny Black, River City Rubber works - background music

Stampin' Up inks and reinker - Sage Shadow, Baja Breeze and Midnight Muse with matching cardstock for the mat.﻿

Monday, March 18, 2013

This precious Rock-a-Bye Baby stamp from Rubber Stamp Avenue along with the New Baby poem also from Rubber Stamp Avenue combine perfectly with the spring blossom branch from Stampin' Ups Easter Blossoms set as a backgound for this new baby congratulations card.

The poem is popped up after stamping and coloring the little bird with the rose in it's beak (Uptown Rubber Stamps - Sandi Gore Evans). The frame around the baby was stamped and colored a second time, then cut out and also popped up around the image. Everything was colored with Copics after stamping with Versafine Onyx Black ink.

Stampin' Up's beautiful new spring Swallowtail stamp makes a wonderful sympathy card along with some flourishes from their Flowering Flourishes set.

The butterfly and the flourishes background are both colored with Copic markers after stamping with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and letting them dry thoroughly. The background for the rest of the card is spritzed with both Schmooch Spritz and Imagine Crafts' FireWorks spray. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Thanks For Caring set.

Friday, February 22, 2013

We had fun "playing" with the new Dress Up Framelits Dies by Stampin' Up at last month's local stamping club meeting.

The hearts are from Stampin' Up's new Hearts a Flutter stamp set that were stamped in Real Red ink and then embossed with the SU Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. The skirt was embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots ef. A ribbon and a few gems were added for a bit of glitz and glamour.

Earlier this month at our local stamping club meeting we were having fun experimenting with ideas using the chalkboard technique for cards. It's fun, and makes for a fairly quick card.

A friend (thanks Barb) suggested I use the SU Love Bandits set for a masculine feel. Another friend (thanks Hilda) had the idea for the "Wood U" part of the sentiment, which I hand lettered.

The images are stamped in white pigment ink and white heat embossed. Colored pencils were used for a few highlights. Then it was sponged lightly with white ink in a few spots to make it look even more like a chalkboard. Last of all, lines were drawn around the edges with a ruler for a border, then it was matted on Bravo Burgandy and Bashful Blue cardstock.

All Stampin' Up stamps were used: Love Bandits, Festive & Fun, P.S. I Love You (brackets for "Wood U")

I used The Stampin' Up Watercolor Trio Stamp set along with a reverse masking technique using a SU Framelits Labels die for the center background. The flowers are stamped in StazOn black ink and then shadow stamped in SU Marina Mist ink. The main card background was created using part of an old Stampin' Up Flourish Decor Stencil and sponging with Marina Mist and Gumball Green inks. Stickles were added for a bit of glitz.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Below is my entry for the Valentine Contest going on right now at 100 Proof Press. All you have to do is use at least one of their fabulous stamps and post your creation on their Facebook page by Feb. 14. Details are available on the 100 Proof Press blog. The randomly chosen winner will receive a $20 pack of "100 Proof Press Goodness".

Stamped the dancers in Onyx Black on white cardstock and clear heat embossed, then colored them with Copic markers. Stamped and cut a mask of the dancers from Eclipse tape and placed over the dancers.

Die cut the Memory Box heart and used the negative of the die cut to trace the outline of a heart so it appears to be behind the dancers. Placed an Ecipse Tape mask of the negative of the die cut heart around the traced heart and sponged the TCW Harlequin mask with Regal Rose ink. Colored the background of the heart with Copic markers after sponging lightly with Pink Pirouette and Pretty in Pink ink. Removed the masks and cut out the heart and the parts of the dancers outside the heart. Sponged edges of the heart with Regal Rose ink.

Embossed the two embossing folders, trimmed edges and matted on burgandy cardstock, then pink cardstock.

Stamped the two Balloon Hearts by coloring the stamp with SU markers. Wrote the sentiment on them, colored with VersaMarker, clear heat embossed and cut out. Popped them up with dimensional foam tape on the heart and drew the strings to the balloons. Popped up the heart with the dancers to finish the card.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Needing a sympathy card, I remembered seeing Heather Telford's gorgeous "Analagous Collage" card on her "Bits & Pieces" blog the other day and used it as inspiration for this card.

Originally this was a one layer card, but when I stamped the sentiment inside the card, part of it didn't show up because somehow the center of the stamp got warped. So, I cut off the front and matted it to a piece of Stampin' Up Midnight Muse cardstock for the base of the card. I restamped the sentiment on a new piece of white cardstock by putting extra pressure on the center of the stamp and then attached that to the inside of the card. The sentiment inside is an old Inky Antics stamp I've had for years. It says, " May your memories bring you comfort and keep your loved one close in heart ."

Materials used are:
Stamps:
Serene Silhouettes by Stampin' Up
Musical Background by River City Rubber Works
Scroll With Deepest Sympathy by Northwoods Rubber Stamps

About Me

My stamping studio is located at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge, which spans the Straits of Mackinac, joining Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. It is an area rich in scenic vistas where the waters of the Great Lakes Michigan and Huron join together. Behind the Scenes refers to my preference for scenic stamping. I enjoy the challenge of putting stamps together to create a scene or tell a story.